#78 Discuss a Story a Week

Part IV of Fired Up or Burned Out has 20 inspiring stories of great leaders who created Connection Cultures (see pages 132-194). Take your team through one story each week and discuss how you can employ the practices in each chapter to your workplace.

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This is the seventy-eighth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

If you asked your employees what the organization’s core values are, could they tell you? Most cannot.

This is a problem for leaders since it is impossible to create a healthy corporate culture, which I refer to as a “Connection Culture,” if employees can’t articulate what the organization stands for. Furthermore, the organization’s values should be ones that encourage connection and teamwork, rather than silos and dysfunctional behavior.

The following steps can help leaders to identify and establish core values that are meaningful and encourage connection across the entire organization:

#77 Provide Constructive Feedback

When providing feedback to help someone improve, we recommend the following: always communicate it in private, be respectful in your tone of voice and volume, and begin with three positive things you like about his/her work. After sharing the three positives, say “I believe you would be even better if… [insert what you want them to do or stop doing].” Kindness matters and the approach you take will affect how the person receives the feedback.

This is the seventy-seventh post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

#76 Keep Them “In the Loop”

Keep your team in the loop on issues they need to know about. Whenever possible, bring individuals into the loop who express an interest in an issue. Doing so helps people to feel prepared for what’s ahead, which reduces stress and increases engagement.

This is the seventy-sixth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Since the time of the American Revolution, the phrase “united we stand, divided we fall” has been a popular motto of the United States. It was first written by John Dickinson in the 1768 Liberty Song, and suggests that in order to thrive, we must rely on one another.

While this is one of the most recognizable sayings in America today, it is common to see the opposite in practice. A nationwide survey published in the American Sociological Review in 2006 shows that despite our proud motto, Americans are lonelier now than ever before.

#75 Wish Them Well

Over your career you will run into intentional disconnectors. They care only about themselves. Psychologists call them the “dark triad” and they are also known as psychopaths, narcissists and Machiavellians. They have little empathy for others. They can make you furious if you let them. It’s best to avoid them and wish them well. Hopefully they will get help from a mental health professional because they need it.

This is the seventy-fifth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Saturday begins the Iditarod, a grueling dog sled race that spans nearly 1,000 miles from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. Not only is the terrain challenging but wind chill temperatures have fallen to as low as 130 degrees below zero in past races. The winner of the first Iditarod in 1973 took almost three weeks to finish. Today racers can complete the “Super Bowl” of dog sled races in less than 10 days.

Adversity faced by sled dog teams racing in the Iditarod makes the event a stress test for teamwork and the cohesiveness of a team’s culture. Reading about it, I could see parallels between sled dog teams and teams of people in organizations.